Joseph Phibbs' Trio Semplice for Piano Trio.Trio Semplice was written for and is dedicated to the Schubert Ensemble as part of their innovative Chamber Music 2000 series. My principal aim in writing this piece was to explore - on a modest scale - the whole concept of musical simplicity: short clearly presented ideas often involving repetition rhythmic regularity and a high degree of textural transparency scored for a small conventional chamber group. This type of simplicity is more technical than psychological however; although the work will hopefully still provide a number of challenges in performance for each of the three players. The work hasthree short movements: a slow opening movement featuring a gently rising dialogue between the violin and piano; a flowing central movement with a flexible tempo marking contrasting a persistent figure in the violin with rapid figuration in the piano finally giving way to a slower cello passage; and a rapid almost mechanical final movement with both cello and violin playing pizzicato. - Joseph Phibbs
